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Despite conducting extensive market research before the launch, there was public uproar. At the height of the backlash, Coca-Cola was receiving 1,500 calls a day from disgruntled consumers. What the company had underestimated was just how emotionally attached consumers were to Coca-Cola and everything it represented.<\/p>\n
There are parallels with SIA. Both companies sought to modernise iconic brands, and illustrate the risks of underestimating the meanings and emotions they evoke in customers.<\/p>\n
SIA is not simply a premium airline but a premium Asian brand \u2013 one that evokes a particular sense of comfort, elegance, and Asian hospitality. And this is precisely what feels missing in the new design.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Looking at the grey-and-yellow colour scheme, I struggle to see anything that evokes that identity. In its previous incarnations, the cabin environment mixed soft colours and textures. The warmth and hospitality associated with SIA\u2019s cabin crew, found a visual counterpart in the cabin\u2019s design.<\/p>\n
But the new, more technical aesthetic, appears largely disconnected from this heritage. If someone told me this was the new business class cabin of Lufthansa, I wouldn\u2019t bat an eyelid.\u00a0<\/p>\n
That is the central issue. SIA has said the colours and materials were selected to create a \u201cfresh, contemporary and refined ambience\u201d. But does it feel like Singapore Airlines?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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